Manager Akihiro Yano and his team of coaches decided on which players would practice in the relative warmth of Okinawa in February, and which would start February shivering in Kochi. Naturally, injuries and other such unforeseen circumstances could result in players changing places, but for now, the “Opening Day” (of camp) rosters have been set.
So, here is the basic schedule and squad divisions for this year’s spring training.
First Squad: February 1-28 in Ginoza, Okinawa
Scheduled days off: February 4 (Fri), 9 (Wed), 14 (Mon), 18 (Fri), 22 (Tue)
Exhibition games scheduled:
- 8th (Tue) 1:00 pm vs. Nippon Ham @ Ginoza
- 11th (Fri) 1:00 pm vs. Nippon Ham @ Nago
- 12th (Sat) 1:00 pm vs. Rakuten @ Ginoza
- 19th (Sat) 1:00 pm vs. Rakuten @ Kin
- 20th (Sun) 1:00 pm vs. Chunichi @ Ginoza
- 23rd (Wed) 1:00 pm vs. Hiroshima @ Ginoza
- 26th (Sat) 1:00 pm vs. Chunichi @ Chatan
- 27th (Sun) 12:30 pm vs. Yakult @ Urasoe
Players invited:
Pitchers – Suguru Iwazaki, Yuki Nishi, Yuta Iwasada, Kosuke Baba, Shintaro Fujinami, Takumi Akiyama, Masashi Itoh, Yuto Suzuki, Masumi Hamachi, Masaki Oyokawa, Shoki Murakami, Takuma Kirishiki, Yukiya Saitoh, Joe Gunkel, Koyo Aoyagi, Atsuki Yuasa, Ippei Ogawa, Daichi Ishii, Taiki Ono, Yuta Watanabe = 20 men
Catchers – Ryutaro Umeno, Seishiro Sakamoto, Kenya Nagasaka = 3 men
Infielders – Seiya Kinami, Yusuke Ohyama, Takahiro Kumagai, Teruaki Sato, Kento Itohara, Ryuhei Obata, Jo Endo, Nozomu Takatera = 8 men
Outfielders – Koji Chikamoto, Yoshio Itoi, Taiga Egoshi, Kairi Shimada, Dan Onodera = 5 men
Second Squad: February 1-28 in Aki, Kochi
Scheduled days off: February 4 (Fri), 9 (Wed), 14 (Mon), 18 (Fri), 22 (Tue)
Exhibition games scheduled:
- 12th (Sat) 12:30 pm vs. Company X @ Aki
- 13th (Sun) TBA
- 19th (Sat) 12:30 pm vs. Kochi Fighting Dogs @ Aki
- 20th (Sun) 12:30 pm vs. Saitama Seibu Lions @ Aki
- 26th (Sat) 12:30 pm vs. Company Y @ Aki
- 27th (Sun) 12:30 pm vs. Company Z @ Aki
Players designated:
Pitchers – Wei-Yin Chen, Junya Nishi, Daichi Moriki, Haruto Takahashi, Ren Satoh, Akira Niho, Yuya Onaka, Koki Moriya, Ren Kajiya, Keisuke Kobayashi, Hidetaka Okadome, Hiroya Shimamoto, Hiroto Saiki, Masaki Iwata, Atsushi Mochizuki, Ryo Itoh, Joichiro Maki, Riku Kawahara = 18 men
Catchers – Yuki Sakaeda, Kento Fujita, Hayato Nakagawa, Fumihito Haraguchi, Yuya Katayama = 5 men
Infielders – Yasuhiro Yamamoto, Fumiya Hojoh, Takumu Nakano, Naomasa Yohkawa, Kai Ueda = 5 men
Outfielders – Shun Takayama, Kouta Inoue, Ukyo Maegawa, Hiroshi Toyoda, Yutaro Itayama, = 5 men
Still not in Japan:
Jefry Marte, Mel Rojas Jr, Kyle Keller, Raul Alcantara, Aaron Wilkerson
UPDATE 1: Rojas Jr arrived in Japan on January 21 and will take part in the Okinawa (top squad) camp when his quarantine period ends.
UPDATE 2: Marte arrived in Japan on January 22 and will also join the team in Okinawa after his quarantine period is over.
UPDATE 3: Alcantara got to Japan on January 30 and his Covid PCR came back negative. After his quarantine period, he will join the club down in Okinawa.